Volume 1
Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-1846 / translated by William Hazlitt; now edited with an introduction by Professor Paul Pelliot.
- Évariste Régis Huc
- Date:
- [1928]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-1846 / translated by William Hazlitt; now edited with an introduction by Professor Paul Pelliot. Source: Wellcome Collection.
419/446 page 365
![mortar, we can only say that we have never discovered the slightest traces of any such work. It is indeed obvious that Tsin-Chi-Hoang-Ti, in the execution of this great undertaking, would fortify with special care the vicinity of the capital, as being the point to which the Tartar hordes would fir ft diredl their aggressive Steps. It is natural, farther, to conceive, that the Mandarins charged with the execution of the Emperor’s plan, would, with especial conscientious¬ ness, perfect the works which were more immediately under the Emperor’s eye, and content themselves with erecting a more or less nominal wall at remote points of the empire, particularly those where the Tartars were little to be feared, as, for example, the position of the Ortous and the Alechan mountains. The barrier of San-Yen-Tsin [San-yen-tsing], which Elands a few paces beyond the wall, is noted for its great Stridtness towards the Tartars who seek to enter within the intramural empire. The village possesses only one inn, which is kept by the chief of the frontier guards. Upon entering the court-yard we found several groups of camels assembled there belonging to a great Tartar caravan that had arrived on the pre¬ ceding evening. There was, however, plenty of room for us, the establishment being on a large scale. We had scarcely taken possession of our chamber than the passport question was Started. The chief of the guards himself made an official demand for them. “ We have none,” replied we. At this answer his features beamed with satisfaSIion, and he declared that we could not proceed unless we paid a considerable sum. “ How! a passport or money ? Know that we have travelled China from one end to the other, that we have been to Peking, and that we have journeyed through Tartary; without anything in the shape of a passport, and without having paid a single sapek in lieu of a passport. You, who are a chief](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3135953x_0001_0419.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
